The Morning After--Still Great

I wish I had the temperment to analyze the full speech as a piece of rhetoric. Rachel Maddow got it right when she said that the final moments when President Obama was paying tribute to Ted Kennedy was an eloquent summary of the liberal perspective. President Obama had to skip across the private, the public and the inter-connections of both to make the point of why health care reform is a moral issue. And he did it powerfully and effectively. I thought the speech was about five minutes too long but he had to cover all the mischaracterizations in the debate and he was forced to carve out a whole section to assure seniors. I always like how Obama builds a speech--the hesitant or modest start and the hortatory repetitions and the blockbuster peroration. He delivered the speech with strength and great passion, which turns it from simply a text of policy points on healthcare to a media event and, more importantly, a demonstration of Presidential leadership.

The problem if you are a critic in the event, is you shouldn't look like those having a picnic during the battle of Bull Run. I almost thought the Republicans should have fans to keep the vapors off, while the black man spoke. The Washington Post in the late night edition had a portrait of the Republicans in the audience and their reactions--the mutterings and waving what,it turns out, is the so-called Republican health care plan, which has been curiously lacking for the last eight months and previous eight years. The eruption of Joe Wilson calling the President of the United States a liar was a breech of Congressional protocol as well as against his code of conduct for a military reservist. The Republicans were clearly sand-bagged by a President who successfully carved out the vital center.

The Republican response was delivered again by someone from Louisiana, who is notable because I forgot his name already. It's easy to make fun of him because he is a birther, been sued three times for malpractice in his medical practice and bought a British title for $18,500 but he made large concessions in the healthcare debate that have been missing from the Republican side since the beginning. He was for affordable medical insurance for all; he was for Americans going cross-state lines for insurance; and he was for the end of insurance companies turning people down on pre-existing conditions and support for preventive medicine. Of course, he might have restrained himself from criticising his own patients. And he threw in the old conservative saw about tort reform--which Obama mentioned in his speech. That was about as sane as the Republicans can get right now.

Ms. Lindsey Graham said Joe Wilson was rude but went on to say the President demeaned the office of the President by his attacks on his critics. He just didn't know his place. Sarah Palin tweeted from an undisclosed location that the President insulted everyone--I forgo the comment. And John McCain thought the President wasn't bipartisan enough--but John hasn't looked behind his back to get aglance of his party in awhile. John "The Tan Man" Bohner and Mitch McConnell looked liked they swallowed frogs, especially when the President called out the Republicans on their deficit-busting ways with the Iraq War and the tax cuts for the rich.

The only sensible damage control man was the head of the South Carolina Tourist Board, who obviously was up all night, because by early Eastern Standard Time, he had already issued a statement that Americans should ignore Joe Wilson and Gov. Sanford and remember South Carolina has great golf courses and beautiful beaches and the people are welcoming, despite its recent reputation of deranged politicians. Perhaps, he caught wind of the movement afoot on the internet to boycott Hilton Head, which is in Wilson's congressional district.

Glenn Beck put out word to his fans not to listen to the President's address because it was irrelevant--especially if you were filthy rich. Mike Gerson wrote in the Washington Post health crisis, what health crisis. Bill Kristol lamented the fact that the President used a Joint Session of Congress to address such a mundane issue as health care reform and not something truly important like war and peace or the anniversary of 9-11.

While polling immediately after the speech is deceptive because, in this case, your dominant audience will be Democrats and independents, the initial results show a big bounce in support of the President's plan. Democracy Corps, Greenberg and Carville's outfit, focused on independents, which by the end of the speech showed over 62% support for the President's ideas. In the CNN poll, even Republicans registered slightly over 50% support of the speech and they particularly liked his vow not to sign a bill that increases the deficit. In all the polls, the speech received overwhelming support from Democrats. In my view, this is not so much because of the details in the plan, which many Democrats would prefer alternatives, but because President Obama so clearly articulated his governing ideology and that of the Democratic Party.